Video: Taiwanese animators imagine Bin Laden’s death

posted at 5:37 pm on May 2, 2011 by Allahpundit

Crowd-pleasing fun to cleanse the palate. My only quibble: Bin Laden didn’t die nearly this bravely. According to John Brennan, one of his wives ended up as a human shield, possibly against her will or possibly … voluntarily. I tweeted earlier today that it’d be amazing if the SEALs had actually had cameras embedded on them somehow during the raid; Red State contributor Jeff Emanuel tweeted back that helmet cams on some troops during raids like this aren’t out of the ordinary. I know the White House doesn’t want to give away any SEAL secrets by making the recordings public, but if they have a few seconds of OBL cowering behind his wife, post it. That sort of self-discrediting propaganda is worth billions. Muslim confidence in Bin Laden has been steadily eroding for the past decade. If he went out hiding behind a skirt, let them see it and seal the deal.

Something I’ve been thinking about since the news broke last night: What was this guy doing with himself for the past 10 years? He put out two or three videos, only one of which (in 2004, right before the U.S. presidential election) received any real attention. He issued audiotapes more frequently, but with little consequence and often, inexplicably, with no references to recent news to at least prove that he was alive. By virtually all intelligence accounts, his role in Al Qaeda had been reduced to a figurehead. Like most people, I thought he’d been dead for ages just because I couldn’t fathom that a psychology like his, with its grandiose fantasies of leading an Islamic conquest of the world, would allow him to drop off the grid. But he did. Was he … retired? Was he waiting for us to withdraw from Afghanistan in some insane hope that he’d simply move back across the border and re-open Tarnak Farms? The fact that he hid for 10 years proves that he knew we were, and always would be, desperate to kill him; he’d never be safe, even in an Afghanistan back under Taliban control.

The best I can do to explain his (in)actions is that he was waiting for Pakistan, not Afghanistan, to collapse. If the government in Islamabad toppled and a free-for-all erupted between the Pakistani military, the Taliban, and people with a foot in both those groups, he might have been able to carve out an enclave in a heavily fortified area. It’d be tough to insert U.S. troops into a situation like that, and Pakistani weaponry is sophisticated enough to take down American drones. And of course, Bin Laden’s top priority would be stealing a nuclear bargaining chip from Pakistan’s arsenal; once he had one in his hands, any action against him would be too risky to attempt. (Call that “the Iranian lesson.”) Am I wrong about all that? If I am, then I repeat: What was this guy’s plan post-9/11?

Am I wrong about all that? If I am, then I repeat: What was this guy’s plan post-9/11?

I’ve seen reports that people around him said he believed that the US would respond like we did after Somalia. That we indeed would surrender and run and not fight back.

Yeah, he did.

But that still doesn’t explain his silence all these years. After all, he gained a great deal of fame through the dissemination of simple audio tapes where he would give these, to his audience, great speech about the Caliphate and the glory days of Islam.

Why he stopped doing that is a complete mystery. Fear of being caught? Or perhaps an agreement with the ISI that in return for safety he’d quit the proselytizing and lay low?

Yeah, that’s my guess. Sort of a quid pro quo between those elements in the ISI and him. I.e., “If you stay quiet, we’ll keep you protected. Just don’t make trouble for us and we won’t make it for you.”

I was completely wrong also, AP- really thought he loved the spotlight too much to go to ground.
Pretty cagey actually- would have gotten away with it too, except for those meddling kids, W & Darth Cheney, and their illegal torture.

This frame grab from video obtained exclusively by ABC News, on Monday, May 2, 2011, shows a section of a room in the interior of the compound where itis believed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden lived in Abbottabad, Pakistan

I tweeted earlier today that it’d be amazing if the SEALs had actually had cameras embedded on them somehow during the raid; Red State contributor Jeff Emanuel tweeted back that helmet cams on some troops during raids like this aren’t out of the ordinary.

Not a chance there weren’t cameras. As I said on an earlier thread, they knew exactly who their target was. You can bet your a$$ there were helmet cams.

Let’s not assume that he was pure and committed all his life. He was a spoiled son of an extremely wealthy man. After his one big hit he may have been content to coast on his reputation and live a life of relative luxury, though in hiding, sending others to their deaths. A Yassir Arafat type of figure.

He trusted ISI to “help” him and he got boned. They slowly put the squeeze on him to where he was their prisoner..he couldn’t leave because he needed their protection. They’ve been holding him to use as an Ace up their sleeve with the US if we clamped down on them or Tali / AQ if they took control of Paki. Just a guess..good as any.